Methods and apparatus to calibrate audience measurement ratings based on return path data

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to calibrate media ratings based on return path data are disclosed. An apparatus includes programmable circuitry to execute machine readable instructions to: determine a subscriber calibration factor for media based on first panel tuning information obtained from first metering devices in first panelist households that subscribe to a content provider that provides media through return path data (RPD) devices; determine a nonsubscriber calibration factor for the media based on second panel tuning information obtained from second metering devices in second panelist households that do not subscribe to the content provider; and determine a final rating for the media based on an initial rating and at least one of the subscriber calibration factor or the nonsubscriber calibration factor, the initial rating based on RPD tuning information obtained from RPD devices in subscriber households that subscribe to the content provider.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 17/851,990, which was filed on Jun. 28, 2022, and which claimspriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/387,878 (now U.S. Pat.No. 11,405,690), which was filed on Jul. 28, 2021, and which claimspriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/779,008 (now U.S. Pat.No. 11,089,365), which was filed on Jan. 31, 2020, and which claimspriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/382,848 (Now U.S. Pat.No. 10,560,744), which was filed on Apr. 12, 2019, and which claimspriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/693,137 (Now U.S. Pat.No. 10,277,944), which was filed on Aug. 31, 2017, and which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/428,344, which wasfiled on Nov. 30, 2016. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/851,990,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/387,878, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/779,008, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/382,848, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/693,137, and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/428,344 are hereby incorporated herein by referencein their entireties.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to audience measurement and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to calibrate media ratings basedon return path data.

BACKGROUND

Many people access media through set top boxes (STBs) or other mediapresentation devices provided by media content providers (e.g., cablemedia providers, satellite media providers, etc.). Some STBs areequipped to report tuning information indicative of the media accessedby the STB s back to the content providers. Tuning information reportedback to content providers via STBs or other similar devices is sometimesreferred to as return path data (RPD). RPD tuning information may beused by audience measurement entities to track or monitor people'sexposure to media.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an example environment in which the teachings disclosed hereinmay be implemented.

FIG. 2 is an example implementation of the example media ratings moduleof FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating calculations to determine a finallocal rating for media provided in a local market of interest based onRPD tuning information collected from two separate content providers.

FIGS. 4-6 are flowcharts representative of example machine readableinstructions that may be executed by one or more processors to implementthe example media ratings module of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 .

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of an example processing system thatmay be used and/or programmed to execute the example machine-readableinstructions of FIGS. 4-6 to implement the example media ratings moduleof FIGS. 1 and/or 2 .

The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same referencenumbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying writtendescription to refer to the same or like parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the past, audience measurement entities (AMEs) such as, for example,the Nielsen Company (US) LLC, have relied on audience measurementpanelists to collect and/or measure audience measurement data used togenerate audience metrics such as, for example, media ratings indicativeof the number of households tuned to particular media programs at agiven point in time. Typically, media ratings, or simply ratings, areexpressed as a percentage of households relative to the entire universeor population of interest. The population of interest may be the entirecountry or a more specific geographic region (e.g., a designated marketarea (DMA) or other local market area). DMAs may range in size fromseveral million households for a large metropolitan area down to a fewthousand households in a rural market area.

Typically, national ratings are generated based on audience measurementdata collected via people meters installed in statistically selectedpanelist households. The people meters monitor the exposure of paneliststo media and automatically report such data to an AME for subsequentanalysis and processing. While some larger local market areas may have asufficient number of panelist households with people meters to generateratings specific to the local market area, the sample size of panelisthouseholds in many smaller local markets is not large enough to generatestatistically reliable ratings for the particular local market inquestion. Furthermore, increasing the number of panelist households withautomated people meter systems is cost prohibitive. Accordingly, in thepast, AMEs have relied on additional panelists in the smaller localmarket areas to record their media consumption behavior in paper diariesover specified periods of time and then to mail the completed diaries tothe AME for subsequent analysis and processing. While paper diariesprovide a relatively inexpensive method to increase the sample size and,thus, reliability of ratings, what panelists record in the paper diariesmay not always be accurate, thereby introducing potential biases in thedata. Furthermore, it has become increasingly difficult to recruitcertain demographics (e.g., relatively young audience members) tovolunteer as panelists and/or consistently complete the paper diaries.Further still, diary samples often favor highly rated broadcast stationswhile neglecting smaller broadcast or cable networks such that thecollected panel data may not be fully representative for reliableanalysis.

More recently, as technology has advanced, AMEs have turned to tuninginformation collected, measured, and/or reported from RPD devices as analternate source of data that may be used to generate ratings for mediaamong other audience measurement metrics. As used herein, an RPD devicerefers to any type of media device (e.g., a STB or other similar device)that is capable of accessing media from a content provider and reportingtuning information regarding the media accessed back to the contentprovider. Such tuning information is referred to herein as RPD tuninginformation or simply RPD. Using RPD tuning information for audiencemetrics has the advantage that it is relatively inexpensive to obtainbecause it may be implemented substantially automatically based onsoftware installed on processors associated with the RPD devicesreporting the RPD tuning information via any suitable network (e.g., theInternet). Not only is RPD tuning information relatively inexpensive tocollect based on modern computer technology that makes the reporting ofsuch RPD tuning information possible, RPD tuning information is alsoadvantageous in that it may be collected from much larger quantities ofhouseholds than possible through traditional audience measurementpanels. For example, RPD tuning information may be collected fromvirtually every household that includes an RPD device because the reportof RPD tuning information is often set as the default option for suchdevices at the time of manufacture.

While RPD tuning information provides these advantages, there arechallenges with relying exclusively on RPD tuning information forpurposes of audience measurement. Despite the large number of householdsthat have RPD devices, there are still many households that may notsubscribe to a media content provider and, therefore, not employ an RPDdevice to access media. As a result, the media exposure of audiencemembers in such households would not be accounted for by collected RPDtuning information.

Furthermore, even where a household does have an RPD device to reporttuning information (e.g., the household subscribes to a media contentprovider), the same household may have other media devices that are notcapable of reporting RPD tuning information referred to herein asnon-RPD devices. As a result, media exposure of audience members in suchhouseholds via a non-RPD device would not be account for by collectedRPD tuning information. Therefore, RPD tuning information collected in alocal market area does not account for all media exposure and, thus, maybe biased or otherwise not representative of the entire population inthe local market.

Examples methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture disclosedherein overcome at least some of the limitations associated withdetermining media ratings in local markets based on local RPD tuninginformation by using panel tuning information collected in thesurrounding region to the local market to calculate calibration factorsthat may be used to correct biases in the RPD tuning information.

FIG. 1 is an example environment 100 in which the teachings disclosedherein may be implemented. In the illustrated example, a contentprovider 102 provides media to content subscribers and collects RPDtuning information indicative of the subscribers accessing the media.The content provider 102 may provide the RPD tuning information to anaudience measurement entity (AME) 104 to enable to the AME 104 togenerate audience measurement metrics. In some examples, the contentprovider 102 and the AME 104 communicate via a network 106 such as, forexample, the Internet.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the example environment 100 includes anonsubscriber non-panelist household 108, a subscriber non-panelisthousehold 110, a nonsubscriber panelist household 112, and a subscriberpanelist household 114. The nonsubscriber and subscriber panelisthouseholds 112, 114 (collectively referred to as panelist households)represent households that have members that have enrolled as panelistswith the AME 104. In some examples, panelists correspond to astatistically selected subset of all potential audience members that isrepresentative of a whole population of interest. In some suchpanel-based monitoring systems, the panelists agree to provide detaileddemographic information about themselves. In this manner, detailedexposure metrics are generated based on collected media exposure dataand associated user demographics, which can then be statisticallyextrapolated to an entire population of interest (e.g., a local market,a national market, a demographic segment, etc.).

In the illustrated example, the nonsubscriber and subscribernon-panelist households 108, 110 (collectively referred to asnon-panelist households) differ from each other in that the subscribernon-panelist household 110 includes an RPD device 116 whereas thenonsubscriber non-panelist household 108 does not. Instead, thenonsubscriber non-panelist household 108 includes a non-RPD device 118.Similar to the non-panelist households 108, 110, in the illustratedexample, the panelist households 112, 114 differ from each other in thatthe subscriber panelist household 114 includes an RPD device 120 whereasthe nonsubscriber panelist household 112 does not. Instead, thenonsubscriber panelist household 112 includes a non-RPD device 122. Asdescribed above, an RPD device, as used herein, is any type of mediadevice capable of accessing media from a media content provider 102 andreporting RPD tuning information back to the content provider. Bycontrast, a non-RPD device, as used herein, refers to any type of mediadevice that is capable of accessing and/or playing media from a contentprovider 102 but that does not have the capability to report RPD tuninginformation back to the content provider.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1 , the subscriber non-panelisthousehold 110 and the subscriber panelist household 114 include the RPDdevices 116, 120 because the households 110, 114 are subscribers to thecontent provider 102. Accordingly, for purposes of explanation, thesubscriber non-panelist household 110 and the subscriber panelisthousehold 114 are collectively referred to herein as subscriberhouseholds. In some examples, the RPD devices 116, 120 are provided bythe content provider 102 when the households 110, 114 initially becomesubscribers to enable access to media generated by content provider 102.As shown in the illustrated example, the RPD devices 116, 120 may accessmedia from the content provider 102 and report RPD tuning information tothe content provider 102 via the network 106.

The nonsubscriber non-panelist household 108 and the nonsubscriberpanelist household 112 are collectively referred to herein asnonsubscriber households because they correspond to households that donot have a subscription with the content provider 102. In some examples,there may be households that subscribe to the content provider 102 butdo not have equipment capable of reporting RPD tuning information (i.e.,an RPD device) because, for example, such households use olderequipment. Although such households have a subscription with the contentprovider 102, such households are classified with the nonsubscriberhouseholds 108, 112 because they do not have the capability to reportRPD tuning information. Further, some households may be subscribers to aparticular content provider 102 with an RPD device that reports RPDtuning information to the content provider but the content provider doesnot provide such information to the AME 104. Such households are treatedas nonsubscriber households for purposes of the teachings disclosedherein. That is, as used herein, the designation of subscriber householdversus nonsubscriber household is based on whether the householdincludes an RPD device that reports RPD tuning information available tothe AME 104. If so, the household is a subscriber household. If not, thehousehold is a nonsubscriber household.

As shown in the illustrated example, the subscriber households 110, 114may include non-RPD devices 124, 126 in addition to the RPD devices 116,120. Thus, a subscriber household is any household that has at least oneRPD device regardless of the number of non-RPD devices. A nonsubscriberhousehold may have any number of non-RPD devices but does not have anyRPD devices (i.e., capable of reporting RPD tuning information that isavailable to the AME 104).

In the illustrated example, the RPD devices 116, 120 may be standalonedevices (e.g., STBs) that connect to separate media presentationdevices, such as, television sets, radios, smartphones, tablets,computers, or any other device capable of playing the media accessed bythe RPD devices 116, 120. Alternatively, the RPD devices 116, 120 may beintegrated with a corresponding media presentation device capable ofplaying the media accessed by the RPD device (e.g., a smart television).Similarly, the non-RPD devices 118, 122, 124, 126 may be integratedmedia presentations devices or standalone devices (e.g., STBs) thatconnect to separate media presentation devices.

As described herein, only RPD devices are capable of reporting RPDtuning information to a content provider 102. Thus, in the illustratedexample, RPD tuning information collected by the content provider 102would be limited to media accessed via the RPD devices 116, 120 of thesubscriber households 110, 114. Such data is incomplete to represent theexposure to media by all the households 108, 110, 112, 114 representedin FIG. 1 . In particular, the RPD tuning information would not indicateany media exposure by audience members in the nonsubscriber households108, 112. Further, while the RPD tuning information would convey somemedia to which audience members in the subscriber households 110, 114were exposed, any media accessed via the non-RPD devices 124, 126 in thesubscriber households 110, 114 is not accounted for in the reported RPDtuning information.

While the RPD tuning information collected from the RPD devices isinsufficient to fully account for all media accessed in any of thehouseholds 108, 110, 112, 114, the AME 104 is at least able to fullyaccount for all media accessed at the panelist households 112, 114. Thisis possible because the panelist households 112, 114 are provided withmetering devices 128, 130 to track and/or monitor all media played inthe households 112, 114 and report such to the AME 104 (e.g., via thenetwork 106). In some examples, the metering devices 128, 130 also trackand report who is being exposed to the media being played so that themedia exposure can be associated with particular individuals and theirassociated demographics previously collected when the household membersenrolled as panelists. While a single metering device 130 is shown inthe subscriber panelist household 114 to monitor both the RPD device 120and the non-RPD device 126, in some examples, a separate metering device130 may be associated with each device to independently track and reportmedia accessed by each device to the AME 104.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1 , the AME 104 includes a mediaratings module 132 to calibrate ratings for media generated based oncollected RPD tuning information as described more fully below. Moreparticularly, the media ratings module 132 uses panel tuning informationincluded in audience measurement data collected from subscriber panelisthouseholds (e.g., from the metering device 130 of the subscriberpanelist household 114) to calculate a first calibration factor thataccounts for media accessed via non-RPD devices in subscriber householdsin a region of interest (e.g., including media accessed via the non-RPDdevice 124 of the subscriber non-panelist household 110). Further, themedia ratings module 132 uses panel tuning information collected fromnonsubscriber panelist households (e.g., from the metering device 128 ofthe nonsubscriber panelist household 112) to calculate a secondcalibration factor that accounts for media accessed via non-RPD devicesin nonsubscriber households in a region of interest (e.g., includingmedia accessed via the non-RPD device 118 of the nonsubscribernon-panelist household 108). The first and second calibration factorsare used to modify or adjust an initial media rating for a region ofinterest (e.g., a local market area) based exclusively on collected RPDtuning information (e.g., collected from the RPD devices 116, 120 of thesubscriber households 110, 114) to produce an accurate final rating forthe entire region of interest (e.g., that accounts for media exposurevia the non-RPD devices 118, 122, 124, 126). Examples disclosed hereinarrive at the final local rating without the need or expense ofemploying paper diaries or having a large sample size of panelistsspecifically located within the local market area.

FIG. 2 is an example implementation of the example media ratings module132 of FIG. 1 . The example media ratings module 132 includes an examplecommunications interface 202, an example regional area identifier 204,an example demographic comparator 206, an example ratings calculator208, an example calibration factor calculator 210, an example paneltuning information database 212, and an example RPD tuning informationdatabase 214.

The example media ratings module 132 is provided with the examplecommunications interface 202 to communicate with the metering devices128, 130 installed in the panelist households 112, 114. That is, themetering devices 128, 130 may report audience measurement data to theAME 104 that is received by the communications interface 202. Thecommunications interface 202 may receive audience measurement data fromother panelist households not represented in the illustrated example.The collected audience measurement data includes panel tuninginformation, which may be stored in the panel tuning informationdatabase 212. The panel tuning information may include an indication ofthe media accessed via the associated media devices (e.g., the RPDdevice 120 or the non-RPD devices 122,126). In the illustrated example,the panel tuning information includes an identifier of the particularmedia device used to access the media and/or an indication of whetherthe media device is capable of reporting RPD tuning information (i.e.,whether the media device is an RPD device). In some example, the mediaaccessed by the media devices may be uniquely identified by the paneltuning information. In other examples, the panel tuning information mayidentify a particular source of media (e.g., a station ID) from whichthe particular media may be identified based on an associated timestampincluded in the panel tuning information.

Additionally, in the illustrated example, the communications interface202 of the media ratings module 132 receives RPD tuning information fromthe content provider 102. The content provider 102 collects the RPDtuning information reported from RPD devices (e.g., the RPD devices 116,120) accessing media content provided by the content provider 102. Insome examples, the communications interface 202 may receive the RPDtuning information directly from the RPD devices 116, 120 independent ofcommunications between the AME 104 and the content provider 102. The RPDtuning information may be stored in the RPD tuning information database214. Similar to the panel tuning information, the RPD tuning informationincludes a media identifier (e.g., a unique identifier, a station IDwith an associated timestamp, etc.) to identify the media accessed bythe RPD devices.

As mentioned above, a particular local market of interest (e.g., arelatively small DMA) may not have a sufficient number of panelistslocated therein to reliably generate media ratings for the local market.Further, while RPD tuning information collected from within the localmarket area may be obtained from a relatively larger number ofsubscriber households 110, 114, the subscriber households are unlikelyto be representative of the entire population within the local marketarea because they exclude nonsubscriber households 108, 112.Accordingly, in some examples, panel tuning information collected frompanelists in a larger surrounding region (referred to herein as aregional area) may be used, in conjunction with RPD tuning informationcollected from subscriber households 110, 114 in the regional area, tocalibrate the RPD tuning information collected from within the localmarket area. The example media ratings module 132 is provided with theexample regional area identifier 204 to identify the appropriateregional area surrounding the local market area that contains panelisthouseholds 112, 114 representative of those in the local market. In someexamples, the local market of interest may be a DMA and the largerregional area may be a designated region containing the particular DMAas well as other adjacent DMAs. However, the local market and regionalareas may be any suitable geographic areas. The regional area identifier204 typically identifies a regional area that is larger than the localmarket area because the local market area does not contain a sufficientnumber of panelist households 112, 114 to statistically rely on datafrom within the local market area. However, in some examples, the localmarket area may be sufficiently large that the panel and/or RPD tuninginformation from panelists and/or subscriber households 110, 112, 114limited to within the local market area are sufficient to reliablyrepresent the local market.

Panelist households 112, 114 and/or subscriber households 110, 114 inthe regional area may not be directly representative of householdswithin the local market area (e.g., based on different compositions ofdemographic characteristics throughout the region). Accordingly, in someexamples, the demographic comparator 206 compares the local market areawith the surrounding regional area and assigns different weights to onesof the panelist households 112, 114 and subscriber households 110, 114throughout the regional area to be representative of the households inthe local market area based on one or more demographic characteristics.

In some examples, the panel tuning information collected from panelisthouseholds 112, 114 in the regional area, are compared against RPDtuning information collected from subscriber households 110, 114 in theregional area to calculate calibration factors for RPD tuninginformation specific to a local market area.

The example media ratings module 132 is provided with the exampleratings calculator 208 to calculate ratings for media in a particularregion of interest (e.g., a local market). In some examples, the ratingscalculator 208 calculates ratings at a quarter-hour granularity.However, the ratings may be based on any other suitable time period. Insome examples, the ratings calculator 208 may calculate an initialestimate for a rating of media provide in a local market area basedexclusively on exposure to media indicated by collected RPD tuninginformation from within the local market area. For purposes ofexplanation, this initial estimate is referred to herein as the initialRPD-based local rating. As with the panelist households and subscriberhouseholds in the surrounding regional area, the subscriber households110, 114 within the local market area may not be demographicallyrepresentative of the entire population of the local market area.Accordingly, in some examples, the demographic comparator 206 assignsweights to the subscriber households 112, 114 within the local marketarea to better represent the total population. In some such examples,the initial RPD-based local rating is based on weighted RPD tuninginformation corresponding to the weights assigned to the subscriberhouseholds 112, 114 in the local market area from which the RPD tuninginformation was collected.

As a specific example, for purposes of explanation, assume that allhouseholds are equally weighted. In such an example, if a particularcontent provider 102 located in a local market area includes 10,000subscriber households and 300 of the subscriber households reported RPDtuning information indicative of exposure to particular media, theinitial RPD-based local rating for the media would be(300/10,000)×100=3. This initial RPD-based local rating is unlikely tobe reflective of the actual percentage of all households in the localmarket area that accessed the media because it fails to account for whenthe media is accessed via non-RPD devices (in either subscriberhouseholds or nonsubscriber households). Accordingly, in some examples,the ratings calculator 208 may calibrate the initial estimate to a finallocal rating that accounts for such households based on calculatedcalibration factors.

In some examples, the calibration factor calculator 210 calculates thecalibration factors by leveraging the panel tuning information collectedfrom panelist households 108, 112 in the surrounding regional areaidentified by the regional area identifier 204 and comparing it againstRPD tuning information collected from subscriber households in theidentified regional area. In some examples, the calibration factorcalculator 210 calculates different calibration factors for mediaassociated with different times of day, for different station groups,for different demographics of the households where the media was played,and/or for any other suitable characteristic. Furthermore, in someexamples, the calibration factors are updated on a periodic or aperiodicbasis. For example, new calibration factors may be calculated once aday.

In some examples, the calibration factor calculator 210 calculates twoseparate calibration factors (for each grouping of characteristics(e.g., daypart, station group, demographic break, etc.) based ondifferent regional ratings calculated by the ratings calculator 208.More particularly, in addition to the initial RPD-based local rating,the ratings calculator 208 calculates a regional RPD-based subscriberrating based on RPD tuning information collected from subscriberhouseholds 110, 114 throughout the regional area surrounding the localmarket area. The ratings calculator 208 calculates the regionalRPD-based subscriber rating for particular media as the percentage ofall subscriber households in the regional area that reported RPD tuninginformation indicating access to the particular media. For example,assume the surrounding regional area being analyzed includes 1,000,000subscriber households including 25,000 of which accessed the particularmedia of interest. Assuming all households are weighted equally forpurposes of explanation, the regional RPD-based subscriber rating wouldbe (25,000/1,000,000)×100=2.5. In other words, the regional RPD-basedsubscriber rating is calculated in the same way as the initial RPD-basedlocal rating except that the RPD tuning information used is for theregional rating comes from households in a larger regional area ratherthan the local market area of interest.

Additionally, the ratings calculator 208 calculates two regionalpanelist cutback ratings based on the collected panel tuning informationin the identified regional area. The regional panelist cutback ratingsare referred to herein as cutback ratings because they are ratings basedupon a subset of all panelists in the identified regional area. A firstregional cutback rating corresponds to all panelist households in theregional area that are nonsubscriber households (e.g., the nonsubscriberpanelist household 112 of FIG. 1 ). For example, assume that theregional area includes 3,000 panelist households including (a) 2,000subscriber panelist households 114 (having at least one RPD device) and(b) 1,000 nonsubscriber panelist households 112 (having no RPD devices).Of the 1,000 nonsubscriber panelist households 112, further assume that50 accessed the particular media of interest. In such a situation, theratings calculator 208 calculates the first regional cutback rating(also referred to herein as the regional nonsubscriber panelist cutbackrating) to be (50/1,000)×100=5. In some examples, the calibration factorcalculator 210 uses the regional nonsubscriber panelist cutback ratingto calculate a first calibration factor that accounts for media accessedby all nonsubscriber households 108, 112. The first calibration factoris referred to herein as the nonsubscriber calibration factor and iscalculated as the ratio of the regional nonsubscriber panelist cutbackrating to the regional RPD-based subscriber rating. That is, using theabove example, a regional nonsubscriber panelist cutback rating of 5 anda regional RPD-based subscriber rating of 2.5 results in a nonsubscribercalibration factor of 5/2.5=2. This nonsubscriber calibration factorindicates that nonsubscriber households 108, 112 were tuned to theparticular media twice as often as reported by the RPD tuninginformation collected from the subscriber households 110, 114 throughoutthe regional area.

While the first cutback rating corresponds to nonsubscriber panelisthouseholds 108, 112, the second regional cutback rating corresponds toall panelist households in the regional area that are subscriberhouseholds (e.g., the subscriber panelist household 114 of FIG. 1 ).However, in some examples, when the ratings calculator 208 calculatesthis second regional cutback rating, only media accessed by non-RPDdevices in such households is taken into account (e.g., the non-RPDdevice 122 of the nonsubscriber panelist household 112). Using the aboveexample, of the 2,000 panelist households that are subscriber households114, assume that 25 accessed the media of interest via a non-RPD device.In such a situation, the ratings calculator 208 calculates the secondregional cutback rating (also referred to herein as the regional non-RPDsubscriber panelist cutback rating) to be (25/2,000)×100=1.25. Thecalibration factor calculator 210 uses the regional non-RPD subscriberpanelist cutback rating to calculate a second calibration factor thataccounts for media accessed by all subscriber households 110, 114 vianon-RPD devices 124, 126. The second calibration factor is referred toherein as the non-RPD subscriber calibration factor and is calculated asthe ratio of the regional non-RPD subscriber panelist cutback rating tothe regional RPD-based subscriber rating. That is, using the aboveexample, a regional non-RPD subscriber panelist cutback rating of 1.25and a regional RPD-based subscriber rating of 2.5 results in anonsubscriber calibration factor of 1.25/2.5=0.5. This non-RPDsubscriber calibration factor indicates that subscriber households 110,114 throughout the regional area were tuned to the particular media viaa non-RPD device 124, 126 half as often as the subscriber households110, 114 that accessed the media via RPD devices 116, 120.

After the ratings calculator 208 has calculated an initial estimate of arating for media provided in the local market area based exclusively onthe locally collected RPD tuning information (e.g., the initialRPD-based local rating) and the calibration factor calculator 210 hascalculated the calibration factors, the ratings calculator 208 maycalculate a final local rating for the local market. The final localrating is based on a weighted sum of a total subscriber local rating anda total nonsubscriber local rating. In some examples, the totalnonsubscriber local rating is calculated as the product of the initialRPD-based local rating and the nonsubscriber calibration factor. Usingthe above example, an initial RPD-based local rating of 3 and anonsubscriber calibration factor of 2 results in a total nonsubscriberlocal rating of 3×2=6. In some examples, the total subscriber localrating is calculated as the initial RPD-based local rating plus theproduct of the initial RPD-based local rating and the non-RPD subscribercalibration factor. Expressed differently, the total subscriber localrating is calculated as the initial RPD-based local rating multiplied byone plus the non-RPD subscriber calibration factor. Again, using theabove example, an initial RPD-based local rating of 3 and a non-RPDsubscriber calibration factor of 0.5 results in a total subscriber localrating of 3×(1+0.5)=4.5.

In some examples, the ratings calculator 208 sums the total subscriberlocal rating and the total nonsubscriber local rating multiplied byweighting factors based on the market penetration of the contentprovider 102 associated with the RPD devices in the local market area.In particular, the total subscriber local rating is multiplied by asubscriber penetration defined as the percentage of subscriberhouseholds 110, 114 in the local market area relative to all householdsin the local market area. The total nonsubscriber local rating ismultiplied by a nonsubscriber penetration defined as one minus thesubscriber penetration. Thus, assuming a subscriber penetration of 80%and, thus, a nonsubscriber penetration of 20%, the final local ratingfor the local market area is (4.5×80%)+(6×20%)=4.8.

In some situations, while a content provider 102 may have a particularpenetration in a local market of interest, certain media sources (e.g.,particular television stations) provided by a content provider 102 mayhave limited coverage within the local market area. That is, particularmedia may be provided to only a portion of the subscriber households110, 114 in the local market area of interest. In some such examples,each content provider 102 may have a different penetration and/or adifferent coverage for particular media. In such examples, the ratingscalculator 208 may adjust rating calculations and penetration values toaccount for the partial coverage of the media with respect to thedifferent content providers as explained more fully below in connectionwith FIG. 3 .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the relevant calculations todetermine a final local rating (block 302) when the RPD tuninginformation is collected from two separate content providers 102. WhileFIG. 3 illustrates an example that involves two content providers 102,the example methodology described herein may be suitably adapted to anynumber of content providers. In the illustrated example, the top threeblocks correspond to regional ratings (RR) including a regional non-RPDsubscriber panelist cutback rating (block 304), a regional nonsubscriberpanelist cutback rating (block 306), and a regional RPD-based subscriberrating (block 308). As shown in FIG. 3 , a non-RPD subscribercalibration factor (block 310) is calculated as the ratio of theregional non-RPD subscriber panelist cutback rating (block 304) to theregional RPD-based subscriber rating (block 308). A nonsubscribercalibration factor (block 312) is calculated as the ratio of theregional nonsubscriber panelist cutback rating (block 306) to theregional RPD-based subscriber rating (block 308).

The bottom blocks of FIG. 3 represent information associated with thelocal market area of interest for which the final local rating is to becalculated. Block 314 represents the initial RPD-based local ratings forthe local market area. These values represent the initial estimate ofratings for media provided in the local market area that are to becalibrated based on the calibration factors represented in blocks 310and 312. In block 314 of the illustrated example, LR₁ represents a firstRPD-based local rating corresponding to a first content provider 102while LR₂ represents a second RPD-based local rating corresponding to asecond content provider 102. LR_(C) represents the combined RPD-basedlocal rating for the local market based on RPD tuning informationcollected from both the first and second content providers 102.

Block 316 represents the coverage associated with each media sourceproviding the particular media of interest. More particularly, C₁represents the coverage associated with the first content provider 102,C₂ represents the coverage associated with the second content provider102, and C_(N) represents the coverage associated with nonsubscribermedia sources.

Block 318 represents the penetration of each media source within thelocal market of interest. More particularly, P₁ represents thepenetration of the first content provider 102 in the local market area,P₂ represents the penetration of the second content provider 102, andP_(S) represents a subscriber penetration corresponding to a total ofthe individual content provider penetrations. Further, block 318includes a nonsubscriber penetration (P_(N)) that is defined herein asone minus the total subscriber penetration (e.g., 1−P_(S)).

As shown in the illustrated example, adjusted RPD-based local ratingsfor each content provider 102 is represented by block 320. The adjustedlocal ratings are calculated by dividing the initial local rating by thecoverage associated with the corresponding content provider 102.Similarly, adjusted penetrations for each content provider 102 isrepresented by block 322 and calculated by multiplying the initialpenetration by the associated coverage value.

The calculated values for the adjusted local ratings (block 320) and theadjusted penetrations (block 322) are used in combination with thenonsubscriber calibration factor (block 312) to calculate the totalnonsubscriber local rating for the media of interest as represented byblock 324. As shown in block 324 of the illustrated example, rather thanmultiplying the combined RPD-based local rating (LR_(C)) by thenonsubscriber calibration factor, the nonsubscriber calibration factoris multiplied by a sum of the individual local ratings for each mediacontent weight-averaged based on the relative penetrations associatedwith each media content.

Block 326 represents the calculation of the total subscriber localrating for the media of interest. As shown in the illustrated example,this value is calculated as the sum of the combined RPD-based localrating and the combined RPD-based local rating multiplied by the non-RPDsubscriber calibration factor.

With the total subscriber local rating (block 326) and the totalnonsubscriber local rating (block 324) calculated, the final localrating may be calculated as represented by block 302. As describedabove, the final local rating corresponds to the weighted sum of thetotal subscriber local rating (block 326) and the total nonsubscriberlocal rating (block 324). As shown in the illustrated examples, thetotal subscriber local rating and the total nonsubscriber local ratingare weighted in this calculation based on the total subscriberpenetration value and the total nonsubscriber penetration value.

While an example manner of implementing the media ratings module 132 ofFIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 2 , one or more of the elements, processesand/or devices illustrated in FIG. 2 may be combined, divided,re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.Further, the example communications interface 202, the example regionalarea identifier 204, the example demographic comparator 206, the exampleratings calculator 208, the example calibration factor 210, the examplepanel tuning information database 212, the example RPD tuninginformation database 214, and/or, more generally, the example mediaratings module 132 of FIG. 1 may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.Thus, for example, any of the example communications interface 202, theexample regional area identifier 204, the example demographic comparator206, the example ratings calculator 208, the example calibration factor210, the example panel tuning information database 212, the example RPDtuning information database 214, and/or, more generally, the examplemedia ratings module 132 could be implemented by one or more analog ordigital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s),application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logicdevice(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent tocover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one ofthe example communications interface 202, the example regional areaidentifier 204, the example demographic comparator 206, the exampleratings calculator 208, the example calibration factor 210, the examplepanel tuning information database 212, and/or the example RPD tuninginformation database 214 is/are hereby expressly defined to include anon-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such asa memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-raydisk, etc. including the software and/or firmware. Further still, theexample media ratings module 132 of FIG. 1 may include one or moreelements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIG. 2 , and/or may include more than one of any or allof the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions forimplementing the media ratings module 132 of FIG. 2 is shown in FIGS.4-6 . In this example, the machine readable instructions comprise aprogram for execution by a processor such as the processor 712 shown inthe example processor platform 700 discussed below in connection withFIG. 7 . The program may be embodied in software stored on anon-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, afloppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-raydisk, or a memory associated with the processor 712, but the entireprogram and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a deviceother than the processor 712 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicatedhardware. Further, although the example program is described withreference to the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 4-6 , many othermethods of implementing the example media ratings module 132 mayalternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocksmay be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed,eliminated, or combined. Additionally or alternatively, any or all ofthe blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g.,discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integratedcircuit (ASIC), a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logiccircuit, etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation withoutexecuting software or firmware.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 4-6 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/ormachine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.“Including” and “comprising” (and all forms and tenses thereof) are usedherein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim lists anythingfollowing any form of “include” or “comprise” (e.g., comprises,includes, comprising, including, etc.), it is to be understood thatadditional elements, terms, etc. may be present without falling outsidethe scope of the corresponding claim. As used herein, when the phrase“at least” is used as the transition term in a preamble of a claim, itis open-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” and“including” are open ended.

The program of FIG. 4 begins at block 402 where the example ratingscalculator 208 calculates an initial RPD-based estimate of a rating formedia provided in a local market. Further detail regarding theimplementation of block 402 is provided below in connection with FIG. 5. At block 404, the example calibration factor calculator 210 calculatescalibration factors to account for the media accessed by non-RPDdevices. Further detail regarding the implementation of block 404 isprovided below in connection with FIG. 6 . At block 406, the exampleratings calculator 208 calculates a total subscriber local rating. Atblock 408, the example ratings calculator 208 calculates a totalnonsubscriber local rating. At block 410, the example ratings calculator208 calculates a final local rating for the media based on a weightedsum of the total subscriber local rating and the total nonsubscriberlocal rating. In some examples, the weighting is based on thepenetration of subscribers relative to a nonsubscriber penetration. Atblock 412, the example media ratings module 132 determines whether moremedia has been provided in the local market. If so, control advances toblock 414 where the example process determines whether to update thecalibration factors. In some examples, the calibration factors areupdated once a day. However, the calibration factors may be updatedafter any other suitable period of time. If the process determines toupdate the calibration factors (block 414), control returns to block 402to repeat the example process. Otherwise, control returns to block 404.Returning to block 412, if the example media ratings module 132determines that no more media has been provided in the local market, theexample program of FIG. 4 ends.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example implementation of block402 of FIG. 4 . The example program of FIG. 5 begins at block 502 wherethe example communications interface 202 receives local RPD tuninginformation from subscriber households in a local market. While some ofthe subscriber households may be subscriber panelist households 114, itis likely that many will be subscriber non-panelist households 110. Atblock 504, the example demographic comparator 206 assigns weights to thesubscriber households 110, 114 to be representative of the population inthe local market. At block 506, the example ratings calculator 208calculates an initial RPD-based local rating for the media based on theweighted subscriber households 110, 114. In some examples, wheredifferent ones of the subscriber households 110, 114 correspond tosubscribers to multiple different media content providers 102, theratings calculator 208 may calculate individual ratings based on the RPDtuning information associated with each content provider as well as acombined rating corresponding to all subscriber households 110, 114regardless of the content provider. At block 508, the ratings calculator208 calculates an adjusted RPD-based rating based on partial coverage ofthe media in the local market. In some examples, such as when thecoverage of the media in the local market is 100%, block 508 may beomitted. Thereafter, the example process of FIG. 5 ends and returns tocomplete the process of FIG. 4 .

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example implementation of block404 of FIG. 4 . The example program of FIG. 6 begins at block 602 wherethe example communications interface 202 receives panel tuninginformation from panelist households 112, 114 in a regional areaassociated with the local market. At block 604, the examplecommunications interface 202 receives RPD tuning information fromsubscriber households 110, 114 in the regional area. At block 606, theexample demographic comparator 206 assigns weights to the panelist andsubscriber households 110, 112, 114 to be representative of thepopulation in the local market.

At block 608, the ratings calculator 208 calculates a regional non-RPDsubscriber panelist cutback rating for the media based on the weightedpanelist households 112, 114. At block 610, the ratings calculator 208calculates a regional nonsubscriber panelist cutback rating for themedia based on the weighted panelist households 112, 114. At block 612,the ratings calculator 208 calculates a regional RPD-based subscriberrating for the media based on the weighted subscriber households 110,114.

At block 614, the example calibration factor calculator 210 calculates anon-RPD subscriber calibration factor as the ratio of the regionalnon-RPD subscriber panelist cutback rating to the regional RPD-basedsubscriber rating. At block 616, the example calibration factorcalculator 210 calculates a nonsubscriber calibration factor as theratio of the regional nonsubscriber panelist cutback rating to theregional RPD-based subscriber rating. Thereafter, the example process ofFIG. 6 ends and returns to complete the process of FIG. 4 .

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 700 capableof executing the instructions of FIGS. 4-6 to implement the mediaratings module 132 of FIG. 2 . The processor platform 700 can be, forexample, a server, a personal computer, a mobile device (e.g., a cellphone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), an Internet appliance,or any other type of computing device.

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 712. The processor 712 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 712 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers fromany desired family or manufacturer. The hardware processor may be asemiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. In this example, theprocessor implements the example communications interface 202, theexample regional area identifier 204, the example demographic comparator206, the example ratings calculator 208, and the example calibrationfactor calculator 210.

The processor 712 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 713(e.g., a cache). The processor 712 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 714 and anon-volatile memory 716 via a bus 718. The volatile memory 714 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatilememory 716 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desiredtype of memory device. Access to the main memory 714, 716 is controlledby a memory controller.

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 720. The interface circuit 720 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 722 are connectedto the interface circuit 720. The input device(s) 722 permit(s) a userto enter data and/or commands into the processor 712. The inputdevice(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, amicrophone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, atouchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voicerecognition system.

One or more output devices 724 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 720 of the illustrated example. The output devices 724 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 720 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 720 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network726 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 728 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 728 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAIDsystems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives. In the illustratedexample, the mass storage devices 728 are used to implement the examplepanel tuning information database 212 and the example RPD tuninginformation database 214.

The coded instructions 732 of FIGS. 4-6 may be stored in the massstorage device 728, in the volatile memory 714, in the non-volatilememory 716, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a CD or DVD.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that example methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed that provideimproved functionality for a processor or other computer deviceanalyzing RPD tuning information collected from a local market area ofinterest by enabling the calculation of reliable ratings for media inthe local market based on the RPD tuning information. Such ratings arereliably calculated by leveraging panel tuning information from astatistically sufficient number of panelist households in a largerregional area associated with the local market to generate calibrationfactors used to modify the initial RPD-based local rating to a finallocal rating that is representative of the entire population of the areaof interest.

Example 1 includes an apparatus that includes a ratings calculator tocalculate an initial local rating for media provided in a firstgeographic area based on local return path data (RPD) tuning informationobtained from local RPD devices in subscriber households in the firstgeographic area. The subscriber households subscribe to a contentprovider that provides the media through the local RPD devices. Theapparatus further includes a calibration factor calculator to calculatea nonsubscriber calibration factor based on a first panelist rating forthe media corresponding to a first subset of panelist households that donot subscribe to the content provider. The ratings calculator modifiesthe initial local rating based on the nonsubscriber calibration factorto calculate a final local rating for the media in the first geographicarea.

Example 2 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein thecalibration factor calculator is to calculate a subscriber calibrationfactor based on a second panelist rating for the media corresponding toa second subset of the panelist households that subscribe to the contentprovider. The ratings calculator modifies the initial local rating basedon the subscriber calibration factor.

Example 3 includes the subject matter of Example 2, wherein the secondpanelist rating is based on the media delivered to the second subset ofthe panelist households via devices for which RPD tuning information isnot available.

Example 4 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 2 or 3,wherein the final local rating is based on a multiplication of theinitial local rating and one plus the subscriber calibration factor.

Example 5 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 1-4, whereinthe panelist households are located within a second geographic arealarger than the first geographic area. The second geographic areacontains the first geographic area.

Example 6 includes the subject matter of Example 5, wherein theapparatus further includes a demographic comparator to assign weights tothe panelist households in the second geographic area to bedemographically representative of a population of the first geographicarea.

Example 7 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 5 or 6,wherein the ratings calculator is to determine a regional RPD-basedrating for the media provided in the second geographic area based onregional RPD tuning information obtained from regional RPD devicesassociated with subscriber households in the second geographic area. Thecalibration factor calculator calculates the nonsubscriber calibrationfactor as a ratio of the first panelist rating to the regional RPD-basedrating.

Example 8 includes the subject matter of Example 7, wherein the finallocal rating is based on a multiplication of the initial local rating,the nonsubscriber calibration factor, and a nonsubscriber penetration.The nonsubscriber penetration corresponds to one minus a percentage ofthe subscriber households in the first geographic area relative to allhouseholds in the first geographic area.

Example 9 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 1-8, whereinthe ratings calculator is to calculate an adjusted local rating based ona partial coverage of the media in the first geographic area, and tocalculate the final local rating based on the adjusted local rating.

Example 10 is a non-transitory computer readable medium that includesinstructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least determinean initial local rating for media provided in a first geographic areabased on local return path data (RPD) tuning information obtained fromlocal RPD devices in subscriber households in the first geographic area.The subscriber households subscribe to a content provider that providesthe media through the local RPD devices. The instructions further causethe machine to calculate a nonsubscriber calibration factor based on afirst panelist rating for the media corresponding to a first subset ofpanelist households that do not subscribe to the content provider. Theinstructions further cause the machine to modify the initial localrating based on the nonsubscriber calibration factor to calculate afinal local rating for the media in the first geographic area.

Example 11 includes the subject matter of Example 10, wherein theinstructions further cause the machine to calculate a subscribercalibration factor based on a second panelist rating for the mediacorresponding to a second subset of the panelist households thatsubscribe to the content provider. The instructions further cause themachine to modify the initial local rating based on the subscribercalibration factor.

Example 12 includes the subject matter of Example 11, wherein the secondpanelist rating is based on the media delivered to the second subset ofthe panelist households via devices for which RPD tuning information isnot available.

Example 13 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 11 or 12,wherein the final local rating is based on a multiplication of theinitial local rating and one plus the subscriber calibration factor.

Example 14 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 10-13,wherein the panelist households are located within a second geographicarea larger than the first geographic area. The second geographic areacontains the first geographic area.

Example 15 includes the subject matter of Example 14, wherein theinstructions further cause the machine to assign weights to the panelisthouseholds in the second geographic area to be demographicallyrepresentative of a population of the first geographic area.

Example 16 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 14 or 15,wherein the instructions further cause the machine to determine aregional RPD-based rating for the media provided in the secondgeographic area based on regional RPD tuning information obtained fromregional RPD devices associated with subscriber households in the secondgeographic area. The instructions further cause the machine to calculatethe nonsubscriber calibration factor as a ratio of the first panelistrating to the regional RPD-based rating.

Example 17 includes the subject matter of Example 16, wherein the finallocal rating is based on a multiplication of the initial local rating,the nonsubscriber calibration factor, and a nonsubscriber penetration.The nonsubscriber penetration corresponds to one minus a percentage ofthe subscriber households in the first geographic area relative to allhouseholds in the first geographic area.

Example 18 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 10-17,wherein the instructions further cause the machine to calculate anadjusted local rating based on a partial coverage of the media in thefirst geographic area. The instructions further cause the machine tocalculate the final local rating based on the adjusted local rating.

Example 19 is a method that includes determining, by executing aninstruction with a processor, an initial local rating for media providedin a first geographic area based on local return path data (RPD) tuninginformation obtained from local RPD devices in subscriber households inthe first geographic area. The subscriber households subscribe to acontent provider that provides the media through the local RPD devices.The method further including calculating, by executing an instructionwith the processor, a nonsubscriber calibration factor based on a firstpanelist rating for the media corresponding to a first subset ofpanelist households that do not subscribe to the content provider. Themethod further including modifying, by executing an instruction with theprocessor, the initial local rating based on the nonsubscribercalibration factor to calculate a final local rating for the media inthe first geographic area.

Example 20 includes the subject matter of Example 19, wherein the methodalso includes calculating a subscriber calibration factor based on asecond panelist rating for the media corresponding to a second subset ofthe panelist households that subscribe to the content provider. Themethod further including and modifying the initial local rating based onthe subscriber calibration factor.

Example 21 includes the subject matter of Example 20, wherein the secondpanelist rating is based on the media delivered to the second subset ofthe panelist households via devices for which RPD tuning information isnot available.

Example 22 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 20 or 21,wherein the final local rating is based on a multiplication of theinitial local rating and one plus the subscriber calibration factor.

Example 23 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 19-22,wherein the panelist households are located within a second geographicarea larger than the first geographic area. The second geographic areacontains the first geographic area.

Example 24 includes the subject matter of Example 23, wherein the methodalso includes assigning weights to the panelist households in the secondgeographic area to be demographically representative of a population ofthe first geographic area.

Example 25 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 23 or 24,wherein the method also includes determining a regional RPD-based ratingfor the media provided in the second geographic area based on regionalRPD tuning information obtained from regional RPD devices associatedwith subscriber households in the second geographic area. The methodfurther including calculating the nonsubscriber calibration factor as aratio of the first panelist rating to the regional RPD-based rating.

Example 26 includes the subject matter of Example 25, wherein the finallocal rating is based on a multiplication of the initial local rating,the nonsubscriber calibration factor, and a nonsubscriber penetration.The nonsubscriber penetration corresponds to one minus a percentage ofthe subscriber households in the first geographic area relative to allhouseholds in the first geographic area.

Example 27 includes the subject matter of anyone of Examples 19-26,wherein the method further includes calculating an adjusted local ratingbased on a partial coverage of the media in the first geographic area.The method also including calculating the final local rating based onthe adjusted local rating.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: memory; machine readableinstructions; and programmable circuitry to execute the machine readableinstructions to: determine a subscriber calibration factor for mediabased on first panel tuning information obtained from first meteringdevices in first panelist households that subscribe to a contentprovider that provides media through return path data (RPD) devices;determine a nonsubscriber calibration factor for the media based onsecond panel tuning information obtained from second metering devices insecond panelist households that do not subscribe to the contentprovider, the first and second panel tuning information associated withthe media delivered to respective ones of the first and second panelisthouseholds via media devices for which RPD tuning information is notavailable; and determine a final rating for the media based on aninitial rating and at least one of the subscriber calibration factor orthe nonsubscriber calibration factor, the initial rating based on RPDtuning information obtained from RPD devices in subscriber householdsthat subscribe to the content provider.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the final rating is for the media provided in a first geographicarea, the subscriber households are in the first geographic area, andthe first and second panelist households are in a second geographic areadifferent than the first geographic area.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein the second geographic area is larger than and contains the firstgeographic area.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the programmablecircuitry is to assign weights to the first and second panelisthouseholds to be representative of a population of the first geographicarea.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the weights are firstweights, and the programmable circuitry is to assign second weights tothe subscriber households to be representative of the population of thefirst geographic area.
 6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein thesubscriber households are first subscriber households, and theprogrammable circuitry is to: determine an RPD-based rating for themedia provided in the second geographic area based on RPD tuninginformation obtained from RPD devices associated with second subscriberhouseholds in the second geographic area; and determine thenonsubscriber calibration factor based on the RPD-based rating.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein the programmable circuitry is to:determine a non-RPD subscriber panelist rating for the media provided inthe second geographic area based on the first panel tuning information;and determine the subscriber calibration factor based on the non-RPDsubscriber panelist rating.
 8. A non-transitory computer readable mediumcomprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to atleast: determine a subscriber calibration factor for media based onfirst panel tuning information obtained from first metering devices infirst panelist households that subscribe to a content provider thatprovides media through return path data (RPD) devices; determine anonsubscriber calibration factor for the media based on second paneltuning information obtained from second metering devices in secondpanelist households that do not subscribe to the content provider, thefirst and second panel tuning information associated with the mediadelivered to respective ones of the first and second panelist householdsvia media devices for which RPD tuning information is not available; anddetermine a final rating for the media based on an initial rating and atleast one of the subscriber calibration factor or the nonsubscribercalibration factor, the initial rating based on RPD tuning informationobtained from RPD devices in subscriber households that subscribe to thecontent provider.
 9. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the final rating is for the media provided in a firstgeographic area, the subscriber households are in the first geographicarea, and the first and second panelist households are in a secondgeographic area different than the first geographic area.
 10. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the secondgeographic area is larger than and contains the first geographic area.11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein theinstructions cause the machine to assign weights to the first and secondpanelist households to be representative of a population of the firstgeographic area.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 11, wherein the weights are first weights, and the instructionscause the machine to assign second weights to the subscriber householdsto be representative of the population of the first geographic area. 13.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein thesubscriber households are first subscriber households, and theinstructions cause the machine to: determine an RPD-based rating for themedia provided in the second geographic area based on RPD tuninginformation obtained from RPD devices associated with second subscriberhouseholds in the second geographic area; and determine thenonsubscriber calibration factor based on the RPD-based rating.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein theinstructions cause the machine to: determine a non-RPD subscriberpanelist rating for the media provided in the second geographic areabased on the first panel tuning information; and determine thesubscriber calibration factor based on the non-RPD subscriber panelistrating.
 15. A method comprising: determining, by executing instructionswith programmable circuitry, a subscriber calibration factor for mediabased on first panel tuning information obtained from first meteringdevices in first panelist households that subscribe to a contentprovider that provides media through return path data (RPD) devices;determining, by executing the instructions with the programmablecircuitry, a nonsubscriber calibration factor for the media based onsecond panel tuning information obtained from second metering devices insecond panelist households that do not subscribe to the contentprovider, the first and second panel tuning information associated withthe media delivered to respective ones of the first and second panelisthouseholds via media devices for which RPD tuning information is notavailable; and determining, by executing the instructions with theprogrammable circuitry, a final rating for the media based on an initialrating and at least one of the subscriber calibration factor or thenonsubscriber calibration factor, the initial rating based on RPD tuninginformation obtained from RPD devices in subscriber households thatsubscribe to the content provider.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinthe final rating is for the media provided in a first geographic area,the subscriber households are in the first geographic area, and thefirst and second panelist households are in a second geographic areadifferent than the first geographic area.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the second geographic area is larger than and contains the firstgeographic area.
 18. The method of claim 16, further including assigningweights to the first and second panelist households to be representativeof a population of the first geographic area.
 19. The method of claim18, wherein the weights are first weights, and the method furtherincludes assigning second weights to the subscriber households to berepresentative of the population of the first geographic area.
 20. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the subscriber households are firstsubscriber households, and the method further includes: determining anRPD-based rating for the media provided in the second geographic areabased on RPD tuning information obtained from RPD devices associatedwith second subscriber households in the second geographic area; anddetermining the nonsubscriber calibration factor based on the RPD-basedrating.